Few dates in history are so etched upon our consciousness as '1066', the date of the Battle of Hastings. And with good reason as the outcome was paramount in forming England's future fate. It was a battle fought on a knife edge, and it is questionable whether the best man won. During Harold's short reign he consolidated the defence of his realm only to be asked to defend it against two foreign invaders at opposite ends of the country in three weeks. In a highly readable account, Peter Poyntz Wright analyses the causes of the battle, the strengths and weaknesses of both sides and ends with a blow-by-blow graphic account of the fighting.